Different

Chapter 10

The happiness spell that Veronica cast on me must have a withdrawal effect. I was feeling exceptionally tired and listless. Even Bishaw noticed it and sent me home. But when I arrived at Mrs. Perrin's apartment complex a group of people were outside. As I walked closer I realized they were tenants, some about to leave for work, others still in their pajamas. They appeared confused.

"What's going on?" I asked one of the women I barely recognized.

"Mrs. Perrin is furious," she responded without looking at me.

"Why?"

"There she is."

The old woman emerged from the front door, appearing agitated while searching for someone in the group of people I was already with. She glowered at me. "Three men stormed in, broke into your room, and left a mess!" Her hands moved to her waist as she shook her head.

"What!" I ignored everyone's faces as they turned to look at me in unison. I ignored Mrs. Perrin as I ran upstairs to check my unit. The doorknob was broken. The deadbolt was loose. My room was a mess. My cabinet was open, clothes scattered on the floor. Bed flipped over. Wallpaper torn.

"They left 5 minutes ago." Mrs. Perrin had followed me. "The police are outside."

The cops took my statements. I was mildly distraught. I wasn't worried about anything. The burglars would have found nothing relevant. There was nothing really important there except for my clothes, which they left lying on the floor. Nothing seemed missing. The cops left after I gave them my statements. I spent the rest of the day cleaning up.

Mrs. Perrin look worried and even offered another room, which I declined. She fixed me tea to make me calm. I had to admit she made me smile, made me feel warm. She left me soon to ruminate. While I was fixing the mess, what Mrs. Stewart told me echoed in my head. I needed answers.

"Someone's--"

"Shit, Mrs. Perrin."

"--looking for you."

"You scared me."

"He's downstairs, in the lobby." Her smile intrigued me. "I'll have that fixed," she said while I was trying to twist the knob to lock the door.

"Thanks," I replied, smiling warmly at her.

"What are you doing here?"

"Checking to see if you're okay." Matt smiled at me. Why I smelled concern was beyond me.

"How did you know where I live?" My forearms were crossed.

"Aren't you asking me to take a seat?"

"How did you know where I live?" I repeated the question, this time scowling. "I don't remember me taking you here." I frowned at him. "Have you been following me?"

"Calm down, Hayley." He held his palms in front of me.

"I can't calm down." My voice was louder this time. "Three men broke into my room earlier."

"I know. That's why I came here." He attempted to hold my hand.

But I made a slight nudge. "You knew? How?" I felt my eyebrows drawing closer to each other.

"You know," he replied, moving his hands and fingers in front of him in a silly way, "abracadabra."

"You were tracking me." I moved a hand, two fingers pointed to the ceiling. He, of course, knew I was casting a spell.

"No." He shook his head and held my arms. "I'm not what you think I am." He looked into my eyes.

Nothing came out of my mouth. My awkward gape at his seriousness soon dawned on my senses. My shoulders then moved to pull my body away from his grip -- not because I was dubious, but because his nearness to me made me uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry." He stooped, appearing guilty. "I didn't mean to know your whereabouts. I just felt that you were in trouble."

"Thanks." I couldn't be cynical anymore. His tone and gestures bore sincerity. "You don't have to worry about me. I can take care of myself."

For what seemed like a minute we did nothing but stare at each other. He was smiling at me, while I was examining every feature of his expression, looking for any sign of deceit. I failed.

"Can we take a walk?" I asked.

"Shouldn't we be having dinner first?"

It was blustery outdoors. The breeze made the branches of the trees sway and sent my hair flying, at times whipping my cheeks.

"Can you be honest with me?" I shot him the question as we stopped walking at a street corner, wondering where we would go next. "What do you want from me?"

The wind drew his eyelids closer together to flatter his eyes with his eyelashes. "I like you."

"No, you don't." I looked away, looked at the stores across the street.

"Why are you so distrustful?"

"Distrustful?" I sneered. "I'm just" -- I paused to think of the most appropriate word -- "realistic."

"What do you mean realistic?" He slid his hands in his pockets, giving me a sideways glance while grinning.

"You don't know me." I stopped walking and looked at him in the eye. "How can you like someone you don't know?"

But he just gazed into my eyes, a gesture that made me uncomfortable. We continued walking and talking about random stuff like college life and work. He said he worked in a bank. Matt was an interesting guy. The more he talked about himself, the more I felt comfortable being around him.

"Aw!" my exclamation punctuated our casual talk.

"What is it?"

"Something..." I pulled the hot amulet. It was glowing red again. We both looked at it.

"That looks familiar." He attempted to touch it, but withdrew his fingertip. "It's burning."

"Madame Veronica gave this to me." The amulet was harder to unlock that I thought.

"It's a protection amulet." He held its chain and examined the glowing ruby that gave the surrounding bronze pentagram an orangey cast. "Why did she give this to you?"

I shrugged. "I don't know."

"She wouldn't give this to you unless-"

"Amarra!" My yell caught everyone's attention on the otherwise quiet street. There were a few people around, and they stopped to gawk at me. But my attention was fixed on the woman who glanced at me from across the street.

"Hey!" Matthew tried to grab my arm, but he wasn't able to stop me from dashing across the road. "Hayley!" His shout was dulled by my zeal to chase the woman I hadn't known could run that fast.

She turned around the corner into a dimly lit alley. Rocks on the wet ground made running a cumbersome ordeal. I emerged into a lonely dirt road with a few old houses. Darting my sight, I looked for the warlock, the bounty hunter. I ran to the left, searching for any movement under the trees and in the dark spaces between the houses. I retraced my steps, panting, trying to look closely at the surroundings.

I heard noises, chinking noises, rustling, clothing rubbing against solid surfaces, footsteps on mud. A man appeared a few feet away. Another one walked behind him. I turned around when I heard noises behind me.

Amarra blew away a powdery substance from her hand. Before I could think what it was, I felt dizzy. The surroundings whirled. The slightest movement made the vertigo worse. My knees were on the ground. So were my palms. My sweat formed drops of fluid on my face, dripping to my chin and falling. My breaths, profuse.

"We came prepared for you," Amarra whispered as she knelt beside me.

"What do you want?" The sudden lethargy weakened my voice.

"You," she replied before grabbing my arm.

I held her arm and her shoulder, trying to balance myself, but I threw up before I could manage to look at the warlocks that had surrounded me. "Why ... are you ... doing this?"

"Because you are the end of us."

A blunt object hit my temple.